"One More Step To Solve the Conflict in Chiapas"

- Open Letter To the EZLN

(from the Mexican governement)

September 7, 1999.

The Mexican Government has been continuously striving to find the
political means to channel the differences between Mexicans through
dialogue, reason and the law. Renewing the effort to end the
conflict in Chiapas is an inescapable and pressing necessity, which
the Mexican Government recognizes under the terms of the Law for
Dialogue, Conciliation and a Dignified Peace in Chiapas, unanimously
approved by the Congress of the Union in March of 1995, and which
mandates:

1. The maintenance of peace - just, dignified and lasting - in
Chiapas. 2. Addressing the causes which gave rise to the conflict.
3. Propitiating the incorporation of the EZLN in its exercising of
politics through peaceful channels, and with absolute respect for
their dignities and guarantees as Mexican citizens. 4.
Reconciliation of the legitimate demands and interests of the
different sectors of chiapaneco society. 5. Promotion of social
well-being and sustainable development in the state. 6. Proposal of
the structure for amnesty, to be, in turn, approved by the Congress
of the Union.

In carrying out the part that corresponds to them, the Federal
Government has mounted an intense social and economic program against
poverty, of humanitarian aid to the displaced, and of support to the
marginalized communities in the state, insisting on the renewal of
dialogue with the EZLN.

President Zedillo has reiterated that "legality, never
authoritarianism; tolerance, never violent confrontation; and
social responsibility, never insensitivity or indifference" will be
the measures used in order to continue addressing the conflicts that
concern Mexicans. Today, the President of the Republic has
instructed the Secretary of Government to take one more step, firmly,
and in good faith, towards the solution of the conflict in Chiapas.

Accordingly, the Federal Government proposes the following:

First: The Government of the Republic has always been convinced
of the necessity of carrying out the San Andres Accords, which it
signed with the EZLN in February of 1996. In order to honor its
commitment, it sent to the Congress of the Union a proposal for
constitutional reform on indigenous rights and culture. The EZLN,
for their part, expressed their approval of the COCOPA's proposal.

In order to progress towards a solution to the conflict, the
Government is calling on the Senate of the Republic to determine the
mechanism for which the committees can incorporate other legislation
and information on indigenous rights and culture into their analysis,
in the light of the San Andres Accords. These documents can be sent
jointly, by the Government and the EZLN. It also calls on the
legislative committees to establish the means by which they can
listen to new points of view, from the EZLN and from other
organizations and interested parties.

With these completely new elements, we will be able to call on the
Senate of the Republic to consider writing the constitutional reforms
on indigenous rights and culture during the current regular session.

Second: The EZLN is called on to assemble an agenda in order to
fully carry out the other commitments agreed to at San Andres,
especially those concerning the social development of the indigenous
communities in the state of Chiapas.

Third: The Department of Government, in accordance with the Law,
is calling on the proper bodies for the release from prison of EZLN
members or sympathizers who are not involved in violent acts or
rapes.

In order to complete this process, we believe it is necessary to
examine, with the EZLN, the cases of those persons it recognizes as
their support bases, and who have been accused of infractions of the
law, in order to review the complaints against them.

Fourth: The Government will carefully review the complaints of
harassment and other illicit acts noted by various human rights
organizations, by the communities themselves or by the persons
affected. The PGR will establish a special program in order to learn
about and to review these cases, providing the witnesses with the
necessary protection through the office it will establish in the
state of Chiapas.

At the same time, measures will be taken in order to ensure that
no groups or persons who have committed an offense will go
unpunished.

Under the current conditions existing in the state of Chiapas,
this action demands the maximizing of measures in order to avoid that
the prosecution of the offenders serve as an excuse for new
injustices or irregularities. It is appropriate to examine, jointly,
the actions that should be taken by the Federal Government, the
communities and the EZLN, independently of political affiliation or
social sympathies.

Fifth: The Federal Government is especially interested in
guaranteeing the efficacy of dialogue, and it agrees to the
establishment of a new intermediation body, civil and nonpartisan,
made up of Mexicans of recognized impartiality, endowed with
sufficient ability to convene, to function as interlocutors and to
make decisions, in order to hold constructive meetings between, and
with, the parties. It also endorses the importance of the COCOPA's
coadvisory work, and it has invited it to intensify the important
charge conferred upon it by the Law for Dialogue. We will proceed to
reconstruct the government delegation in the Commission of Monitoring
and Verification, and to request the resumption of its work.

Sixth: The government representation that will be able to meet
with the EZLN will have sufficient decision making capacity and will
to negotiate. It will be open to creating a negotiation agenda
jointly with the EZLN, that will include various measures in order to
give immediate and urgent attention to the communities who have been
most affected by the conflict, such as the return of the displaced to
their communities of origin and a mechanism for permanent
communication between the parties.

The conflict will be resolved through dialogue, reason and the
law. The Government of the Republic is determined to continue along
this political path, and to take one more step, with openness,
seriousness, and in good faith, for the good of Mexico and of
Chiapas.

Diodoro Carrasco
Altamirano Secretary of Government

Mexico, D.F. September 7, 1999

[I would like, in conclusion, to inform you that, over the course
of the next few days and weeks, we will begin carrying out these
actions immediately.

We will be alert to the possibility of establishing contact with
the EZLN. I reiterate, in order to accomplish that, my willingness to
participate in the reinitiating of dialogue at the time and place
necessary - dca].

Originally published in Spanish
by the Department of Government of the Republic of Mexico
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Translated by irlandesa